Most sporting activities in the United States now use sports headgear and helmets as required by law to be worn by the participants. These sporting activities take place in day light, evening and nighttime hours where children, teens and adults of both sexes have time to participate in them. Presently, most sporting activities have a venue for evening and nighttime participation for the convenience of the sport participant. Athletes participating in skate boarding, biking, in-line roller blading, roller skating, power walking, running, jogging, skiing, ice skating, snow-boarding, sky diving and the like presently use reflective clothes, or have reflective strips, and/or patches attached to their clothes and/or headgear for providing illumination to other sport participants or pedestrians or traffic when engaged in a sport activity at dusk, evening, twilight or nighttime hours.
Reflective strips/patches on the sporting equipment (i.e. skis, skate-board, skates, etc.), reflective sports headgear, and reflective clothing used by sport participants are dependent on overhead lighting from street lights, or course-way lights, or field lights, or traffic headlights from moving motor vehicles or from flashlights from other participants for sufficient illumination to be seen. When the aforementioned lights are not present or are intermittent at best, the reflective patches/strips on the athletic gear, headgear or clothing worn by the participant are not effective for providing illumination to other sport participants, non-participants (just watching the activity), moving motor vehicles, or pedestrians so as to be seen when participating in their sports activity. Also, these athletes do not necessarily have reflective athletic gear, reflective clothing or reflective helmets; the motorists do not necessarily turn-on headlights of their vehicles until nighttime hours; and street lights, pathway lights, parking area lights, course-way lights or field lights may be on a timer that turns on at a specific time, well past darkness or nighttime. All of the aforementioned conditions may lead to the participant incurring an injury or even death because another sports participant, pedestrian, or motor vehicle driver could not see the participant at dusk, evening or nighttime hours.
There remains a need for sports headgear having fiber optic lighting that provides safety and aesthetic lighting to the headgear which provides the wearer with sufficient and bright illumination so other sport participants, pedestrians, non-participants (fans) and motorists may easily see the participant. In addition, the sports headgear should be lightweight, made of durable plastic and have a battery power pack with an ON/OFF switch to provide an energy supply to the fiber optic lighting assembly.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a light-weight, durable, sports headgear having a fiber optic lighting assembly which provides safety and aesthetic lighting qualities to headgear for athletes participating in a given sporting activity, to be worn by adults and children of both sexes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sports headgear having fiber optic lighting for athletes participating in such sporting activities as skate boarding, biking, in-line roller blading, ice skating, roller skating, running, jogging, skiing, snow-boarding, sky-diving, and the like.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sports headgear having fiber optic lighting of high intensity which gives the user's headgear sufficient illumination for other sport participants, pedestrians, and motorists to view and see the illuminated headgear when in operational use and being visible at long distances.
Another object of the present invention is to provide sports headgear having a fiber optic lighting assembly that is durable in use, low in maintenance, and long-lasting for increased lighting and service life of the fiber optic lighting assembly when in operational use.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a sports headgear having fiber optic lighting that can be mass produced in an automated and economical manner and is readily affordable by the user.